By Tim Montgomerie
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Fascinating survey has been published by YouGov today looking at what voters think of their MPs, the political parties and British democracy.
The results are, on the whole, very depressing if not surprising. I'd summarise them with this paragraph…
"Although most voters who have an opinion think their local MP is doing a good job a clear majority think MPs in general are out-of-touch and dishonest. They are so disillusioned with the political parties that they'd rather big decisions were taken by referenda. Almost as many voters would rather Britain was governed by non-political experts than elected ministers. Not that it matters much. More and voters think the British government has lost its power to control Britain's destiny."
Some key findings…
THE THINGS VOTERS ARE NEGATIVE ABOUT…
- 62% say politicians tell lies all the time and you can’t believe a word they say
- 58% say it doesn’t make much difference to my daily life who wins general elections these days – there’s very little real difference between the main political parties
- 38% agree that Britain would be governed better if our politicians got out of the way, and instead our ministers were non-political experts who knew how to run large organisations – only 43% disagree
- By 47% to 39% more voters think government and parliament have largely lost their power to make big decisions about Britain’s future
- 34% think political parties do more harm than good while exactly half think they play a vital role in our democracy
- Only 21% think politicians keep in touch with the lives and concerns of the people they represent
THE THINGS VOTERS ARE POSITIVE ABOUT…
- 67% know the name of their local MP
- 38% think their local MP is doing a good job, only 5% a bad job
- 67% regard Britain as a democracy, 17% do not
- 63% say for all its faults, Britain’s democratic system is one of the finest in the world
AND TWO OTHER GENERAL OBSERVATIONS…
- 45% say people who fail a basic test of literacy and knowledge about British democracy should be denied the vote
- By 45% to 39% voters think that referenda should determine the top four or five issues that parliament considers each year
Read more at YouGov.